Hong Kong -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A pre-teen me once learned how to slow dance to `` Surfer Girl . ''

Picture a middle school auditorium circa 1987 . I was that retainer-wearing girl at the school dance , clumsily shuffling along to the Beach Boys classic with a nervous boy about a full arms-length away from me .

It was an awkward moment , yet my heart still flutters when I hear those harmonies .

So when I learned CNN 's Talk Asia had booked the Beach Boys for an interview in Hong Kong , I jumped at the chance to interview Al Jardine , Mike Love and Brian Wilson .

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They 're currently on their 50th anniversary tour around the world . Dennis and Carl Wilson passed away long ago , but the band includes three original members -- Al , Mike and Brian -- as well as David Marks and Bruce Johnston , who joined the band in 1965 .

On tour , they 're serenading fans with favorites like `` California Girls '' and `` Surfin ' USA , '' as well as a delightfully fresh new single , `` That 's Why God Made the Radio . ''

Although their new song is about a technology the band is nostalgic about , the Beach Boys are not stuck in the past . Incredibly , after half a century of recording and performing , they are not a tribute band to their 20-something selves .

They 're still crafting those richly complex harmonic sounds . They 're still hitting all those notes . And they 're still capturing the sweet , adolescent purity of `` Surfer Girl . ''

`` Surfer Girl , '' released in 1963 , marked Wilson 's emergence as a producer . He tells me , `` I wanted to do something original that was inspired by the Four Freshmen . When Michael and the guys came to my house one day , I learned how to arrange the chords . ` Surfer Girl ' was the first song I ever learned how to make harmonies to a song . ''

Three years later , Wilson would produce `` Good Vibrations '' -- considered by Rolling Stone magazine as his `` ultimate triumph as a producer , and one of the most innovative pop hits of the Sixties . ''

`` The night we cut the vocals was one of the highlights of my life , '' says Wilson . `` It was a departure from anything we 've ever done before . ''

The Beach Boys did the background orchestration in five different studios . Wilson tells me the production took little more than a month .

Not so fast , claims Jardine : `` We were re-doing things endlessly until they were perfect because of him , ` Mr. Perfectionist ' -LRB- pointing at Wilson -RRB- here . So it took more like six months ! ''

`` Good Vibrations '' is a multi-layered pop symphony with nearly everything thrown in -- sleigh bells , cello , harpsichord , even a theremin -- one of the earliest electronic instruments .

As Wilson puts it , `` My brother Carl said , ` Why do n't you use a theremin ? ' I said , ` What for ? ' And he goes , ' I do n't know . '

`` I came up with the ` Uooooooooooooooo ' -LRB- he mimics the theremin sound -RRB- . It was a scary record actually . It was a good scary . ''

Like a roller coaster , `` Good Vibrations '' twists and turns like a joyride of sound . And the boys all agree , it is their masterpiece .

`` They are all masterpieces , '' says Love of the Beach Boys ' full playlist . `` But the one that is commercially successful and brilliant musically ... is ` Good Vibrations . ' ''

Half a century on , the Beach Boys are still creating new music that captures the emotional thrills of youth . `` We feel these emotions as if we were kids , '' says Jardine .

`` We still have them inside of us . ''

Love adds , `` The harmony is timeless ... as long as you can get those notes and create those sounds together , then there is a timeless factor . ''

When the interview wraps , Wilson is the first to rip off his microphone . He kindly agrees to pose for a photo with me , and -- after a handshake -- leaves the room .

Love and Jardine then take to a small nearby stage and strike up an impromptu version of `` California Girls '' -LRB- with Al on bass and Mike doing vocals -RRB- . Johnston then appears out of nowhere to play the piano .

And then it hits me , I 'm being serenaded by The Beach Boys . And inside , I 'm screaming like a giddy 12 year old . But where was Wilson ?

`` Off to a buffet somewhere , '' quips Love with a smile .

And why not ? He has to feed the muse .

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Kristie Lu Stout talks to the Beach Boys in an interview for CNN 's Talk Asia in Hong Kong

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The band , including original members Al Jardine , Mike Love and Brian Wilson , are on tour

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They 're currently on their 50th anniversary tour around the world

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`` Good Vibrations '' -- considered by Rolling Stone magazine as `` ultimate triumph ''